Phantasy Star Collection

"Ayep."

When looking at this compilation, there is one very important thing to keep in mind: Phantasy Star/II/III came out over and around a decade ago. That's ten years, people! Think of what has come and gone by since then - RPG titans such as Chrono Trigger/Cross, Final Fantasy III/VI, Final Fantasy VII-X, Wild Arms, Breath of Fire, Legend of Legaia - I could go on for at least a page. Not only has gaming advanced a three generations since the debut of Phantasy Star (Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis, PlayStation/Nintendo 64, Dreamcast/PlayStation2/GameCube/XBox), but it has become much more involved in the daily lives of millions around the globe. Phantasy Star Collection wasn't made to revolutionize gaming; the games within had helped do that already. PSC was created for the old school gamers out there, those who had played these wonderful games in the late 80's and early 90's, that either never got to finish the titles or enjoyed them so much as to buy them again for the price of one Game Boy Advance title.

Phantasy Star - 6/10
This was the game that started the Phantasy Star phenomenon. Though by today's standards this title is a worthless, rotting rodent carcass on the side of the road, it was a grand treasure all those years ago when it came out. The present-day gamer, also known as those brought up in the era of the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, would [probably] have no appreciation for this game or its relatives whatsoever.

Being one of the most important aspects of any RPG, arguably more so for the early generation of the genre, the story is rather original and only slightly interesting. Not having the ability to portray much for emotion back in the day, though, you can't really do a dang thing about it. The time period is Space Century 342 - Space Travel had become a reality two centuries before and space shuttles were sent forth to colonize distant planets and star systems. Among these were Palma, Motavia, and Dezoris, all part of the Algol Solar System. On Palma, there is a democratically ruled kingdom known as Camineet. Every little boy's role-model was King Lassic, whom was the ideal leader for the people of the land. And then dark things started to happen - priests of a brand spankin' new religion came to town and promised immortality to all who lived. As King Lassic grew old, he decided that joining this new "religion" was the logical thing to do. He started to change soon after being the first to join. The people of Camineet ended up with some massive problems and monsters suddenly roamed the three planets of the Algol Solar System. It became painfully obvious that King Lassic had become one evil son of a bi... shop... Ahem. As always, the struggling bands of good fought to dethrone the unholy King. But Lassic's Robotcops were very dangerous, and dispatched many of them. The next thing you know, a guy named Nero dies, following in his father's footsteps, and hands his short sword to his sister, Alis. With the weapon came the role of good girl. The last thing her brother told Alis was to find a great fighter known as Odin, and that's how the game starts out.

The first time you move, you realize that you're not going very fast at all. That's when you press B, and open up a menu that is full of abbreviations. STAS is your statistics screen, which brings up what you have equipped plus your Attack and Defense ratings, along with your Max HP/MP and MST, which is the abbreviation for Mesetas, the currency in Phantasy Star. MAGC shows you what Magic spells you got, and ITEM brings up your inventory. SRCH allows you to search the are in front of you for an item that may be lying around, but most likely isn't. The last on the list is SAVE, which is self-explanatory. What you may have noticed already is that there is no EQIP (or whatever it'd be called) sub-menu for your equipment. That is because you equip your weapons and armor via the ITEM screen, by selecting the piece and choosing EQP. You can also DRP (drop) items from the same menu, which comes in handy every now and then. Oh, and by the way, there is no way to speed up your character. You will be moving at that same pace throughout the entire game. Exhilarating it ain't.

The other buttons that you'll be pressing will be A and Start. [Sneeze]. A confirms any action as well as progresses the dialogue box when you're talking to someone. Start brings up the Pause menu with the options of Continue or Quit, both of which having obvious effects. It's a sad cycle that repeats itself all through Phantasy Star and again, there is nothing you can do about it. Evidently, as there are not a lot of choices, the controls are easy to manipulate, so you'll have no problem operating the party that you create.

Sadly, the characters that will join you in your quest for liberation are both underdeveloped and worn-out. Besides Alis, three other beings will befriend you. They are Myau, Odin, and Noah... all of which don't necessarily need an introduction. If you were to take a trip back in time, after the release of all these games, you'd find other games with other similar character traits. A bit too bland, really. For any person who has played a recent RPG (rather, anything from 6 years ago or so), you'll be immediately disheartened and will suddenly have an impulse to take Phantasy Star Collection back to wherever you bought it. This sports a major problem - everything feels familiar; it's like you turn into Ms. Cleo and sense the plot twist before it happens. When this occurs, it's a huge turn off.

What begins as a new and innovative experience is the dungeon-crawling. Once you enter one, the 3-Dimensional first person perspective begins. From there, it's pretty straightforward: You move up, down, left, or right, just like you would anywhere else. This cardinal direction stuff is always a pain in the anus, ain't it? The main problem presented here is the fact there is no map, and you'll find yourself lost, backtracking, and taking some wild stabs in the dark as to where you are supposed to be going. As you move through the various areas you'll find treasure chests, which for some reason present some kind of problem with the game - it asks you if you want to open the chest. Why the hell wouldn't you? It's pointless and it happens every time. Another thing that you encounter in dungeons and the like are, of course, enemies.

Fighting bad guys is a bit too simplistic.The menu presented consists of ATTK, which is [obviously] the option to physically attack the enemy. MAGC [Magic] can be used by everyone but Odin. Opening this menu will of course make another menu appear with the names of the spells available on it. Some Spells include your basic Heal, Cure, Wall, Fire, Wind, and Thunder. The ITEM option is, apparently, the menu where you choose your items to use in battle. Next to the last choice is TALK, which is rather interesting. This TALK thing allows you to talk to a monster, but not all of them. The majority are bad, semi-mindless killers, but it turns out some of the enemies aren't opponents at all. The last thing you can do in battle is RUN, which also has an obvious meaning.

Throughout the adventure you'll come across Special Items, such as Transer, which allows you to go to the last Church you visited. There are many of these Special Items and they become important to utilize correctly early in the game, as well as later on.

In civilized areas such as Towns, there are four different kinds of places that you need to become familiar with. Hospitals are where you should go if you need to get fully healed quickly, with a bit of a fee that is based on how badly you were hurt. A Church is good for two things - you can resurrect a character that has died in battle here and if you wanna know how many experience points you need till a character reaches his/her next level, this is the place to go. Houses line most of the streets and they're usually inhabited. As in any Role Playing Game, talking to everyone is a good thing, 'cause you never know who might have the knowledge that you're looking for. Shops are, well... shops. Go to'em to buy or sell weapons, armor, and items. A different kind of Shop exists in Phantasy Star, however: The Fast Food Shop. Here, you can purchase Cola, Burgers and Potion (Polymtal). These babies can be used afterwards, like if there is no hospital in the region. Think of it as a healthier version of McDonalds, where mother's don't complain of their kid's sudden increase in mass.

Those living in the modern world might be disgusted at what they see on the screen of their Game Boy Advance. But what you've got to realize is that this is an 8-bit video game and for what Phantasy Star has to work with, it delivers quite well. The sprites look a tad better than decent, and the animation (what there is for it, anyway) is somewhat smooth for its age. Every motion in PS can't help but feel like an old and rusted World War II tank, though. But once again, that is to be expected.

The one aspect that could be the worse thing on the first installment of Phantasy Star is the sound effects and music. Though the tunes are catchy and good, they are repitive and made mostly of blips and drawn out monotones. This gets frustrating quicker than a re-run of Roseanne, and just like you would on the TV, you'll be turning to something else to satisfy your needs. The sound itself is nothing much to speak of - there are only a few, like, "bleep," and "bloop." Every now and then you'll catch a "Shk!" Wow. Even by its base, Phantasy Star could have done better.

The game ends up being one that is more challenging than anything else for a few main reasons. One would be that no one ever gives you even a clue as to where to go. All your actions are basically random, 'cause you've got so little of an idea as to where to go next. This adds a whole lot of unnecessary difficulty to the game. Not that I'm not up for a good, hard game, but this is just wrong. Who wants to wander around aimlessly and slower than the kid who spends all his time at Burger King? I sure as hell don't. Also, the menu's aren't exactly formatted for mankind to understand them. The developers seem to have just constructed a lay-out, thrown it into a computer system, and shuffled it all up just to see what came out. The result is a murky mess of crap.

If you're looking for difficult, old-school RPG, than this is it. Still, this is now, and things have changed. Phantasy Star was good back then, no doubt, but come on - unless you were around to play this game back in the day, you sure as hell ain't going to bother too much with it now. After going through the whole thing once, I know I'm not going to do it again.

Phantasy Star II - 7/10
As the second of three Phantasy Star titles on Phantasy Star Collection, I was hoping that this game would provide as some kind of pivot; a real sequel. You know, unlike Final Fantasy, where every game is a totally separate thing (excluding X-2)? It turns out that this game does just that, but therein lies the problem - Not all that much has changed since the first PS.

Concerning the plot, it is a distant cousin of Phantasy Star. Alis' epic quest has become a legend in the Algo Star System (Note: Abbreviation of Algo Star System = ASS), but as evil always seems to do, it has risen again. Revolving around the Algo star are the planets of Palm, Mota, and Dezo. The history of each planet is documented, but the world with the most troubled is that of Mota's, where Alis fought and won the battle against the [seriously] disturbed King Lassic. The new evil, however, isn't even a person. It isn't an evil that has been pinpointed. It is instead something that affects all things, including nature and machinery. Once again, baddies have overrun the outlying lands, and no one has the guts to leave the well-done future civilizations for fear of being killed. What was controlling Mota, a system known as Mother Brain, has suddenly been corrupt with problems; something that had never happened before (though it all seems so familiar). The planet is... in... desperate need... [ZzZzZzZ...]... [Yawn]... Oh, hum... Yes, desperate need of saving. And who to do it but some hunky little co-worker!

Phantasy Star II begins as your character, a man whom you've named already, wakes from a dream he's been having - one of a girl being attacked by a demon, and though he is present, he can do nothing about it. Riveting. This dream, of course, takes place at Home, where you can return to check out who has dropped in while you were away. Why would they do that, you ask? Well, right off the bat, you will be chosen to set off to check out what's wrong with Mother Brain, and word gets out about that. It's possible to "recruit" a person who has came while you were away and, while you're Home, it's always wise to rest.

In the city there is a Library, located at the Central Tower (where your commanding officer gives you the job). Here, you can check out the books about the planet and converse with the librarian, whom happens to know a lot of stuff about a lot of things. In the Room, you can drop some of your equipment, and you can come back for it later. This is nice when you need to make room for other things and get reorganized, which will happen to you.

Just like in the first Phantasy Star, Hospitals and various Shops exist. They perform the same tasks as they did in PS, which is heal and supply you with tools and equipment. However, instead of Churches to revive a character, there are Clone Labs. As long as one member of the party still remains, you can come here to get the rest resurrected in time for dinner.

New to the series is the Teleport Station, where a person will "read your memory," scanning for locations that you've previously visited. If you haven't been somewhere before, you ain't going there. Another new feature to the franchise, though somewhat similar to the other feature of a Church, is Data Memory. It's a vault where every piece of information on your characters is stored, like Experience Points needed to reach the next level. You can also save your game here.

Still moving in cardinal directions with the same button placement as Phantasy Star, you'll once again get the feeling of being constricted and limited to doing a bit too little. The flow of the game is continuously interrupted by the blockiness of every aspect this game has to offer. The story doesn't quite fill every plot hole, leaving some things, though not all that critical, unanswered. What is given isn't very deep anyhow, but I will say this: There is one plot twist in Phantasy Star II that you cannot miss. For an old school game, it's incredibly thought out and executed, unlike most of the rest of the game.

Though the 3D dungeon crawling in Phantasy Star was good by the standards of ingenuity, it was covered in gooey problems - it became a bit too easy to get lost, confused, and inevitably frustrated to the point of turning the game off. Perhaps this was realized after the drunken Sega employee who came up with the idea actually played the game, and thus had the dungeon exploring changed overhead perspective. There is still the fact that there is no map, but at least it's a bit easier to maneuver through the semi-tricky areas that this game presents to you in rag-tag, old fantasy fashion.

Fighting is as clanky as ever, consisting of a very basic turn-based battle system with grids, yes grids, for backgrounds. Bloody hell. The only real difference between combat in PS and PSII is the ability to have the characters fight automatically, as well as being able to actually see your person(s) hit the enemy, however briefly. The only other new option is to Defend for a turn. Wowza! I would say that Techniques are a welcome addition to the game, but all those end up being are Magic spells. Hmph. How much fun did Sega have with the rehashed fighting system, do you think? I suppose this was the era of laziness at Sega offices around the world - an epidemic that may return!

The visuals have taken a rather far leap forwards, and for that Phantasy Star II deserves a bit of praise. No longer do your characters look like cardboard cut-outs - au contraire, you can actually make out the faces and globs of hair, as well as certain small clothing details. The builds are bigger which adds a bit more interest on the part of you, the player. The enemies don't look all that much changed from PS, but that's not so bad, as the models are decent... but only decent. For the time, though, they were rather superb.

But let's forget about the graphics for a moment. Turn your Game Boy Advance volume all the way up, and set the system down while in the midst of different situations, like a battle or a town. ... Notice the quality and catchiness factors have both taken a step up the scale? However, though it is true the music has become better, the sound effects haven't really done anything to improve themselves. Again, Sega seems to tell all of Earth that they can only make one attribute stronger at a time. Friggin' A.

Phantasy Star II had the potential to be a much better game, but for what it increased in, it also seemed to stay the same. Nothing new was brought to attention here other than a graphical makeover and more upbeat music. The story is a bit junky - it feels like a 6th grade writing contest was held, and the developers just took the third place finisher out of that and used it here. The challenge has diminished somewhat, as the dungeon crawling has become a bit easier on the nerves with the welcome loss of the first person perspective. At least now we've lost the excuse to bash our GBA with a mallet. Twice.

The second installment of the Phantasy Star series is the best that is offered in Phantasy Star Collection, and I say that through gritted teeth.

Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom - 6/10
The end of the road for Phantasy Star Collection feels like the beginning with a bit of a twist. Over a half decade has passed between the release of PSIII: GOD (GOD? What's with these abbreviations? ASS GOD. Geebus!) and the first Phantasy Star. 16-bit gaming has begun with the promise of better gaming with increased gameplay and depth. The fault, however, is that the change between Phantasy Star II and Generations of Doom lies only in the story in menu set-up. It's pathetic and aggravating.

A valuable lesson is learned in this game - never own a castle with an open roof. Ever! Having always hated royalty, I had to suffer through this game till the end. Poor freakin' me. [Ahem]. Prince Rhys, the main character of Phantasy Star III, is about to marry a girl he found somewhere around his kingdom that goes by the name of Maia. Once you're about to say "I do," however, she is snatched away by a winged spawn of evil. Hm. What an enthusiastic start! But what follows is very disturbing - you escape from your own jail cell (literally... it's in the castle dungeon, and he's the Prince, after all) by way of person who has no name, who magically knows everything about what's going on. Once you're out and about the journey begins to prosecute that flying thing for Grand Theft Bride. Wheeee!

But as you get further into PSIII, you'll switch characters. Or rather, you'll go into another generation, where the skills and statistics of the previous generation is passed on to the new character. Generations of Doom spans three generations, and neither of them are very captivating whatsoever. The futuristic setting is gone, replaced with the medieval theme. This is just one of many things that have reverted in this game to the first in the Phantasy Star Collection.

Phantasy Star III is so akin to to the prior two titles that it makes you feel like you're playing a combination of them instead of a brand new game. The music quality has been combined to make the tunes in GOD the best in PSC, and the graphics are also top-notch for the series.

Aspects that make PSIII a game that's all right to play in your spare time are the various improvements upon the Phantasy Star template. The battle system is the best yet, though it's got a whole lot of junk in the trunk. Hitting things just isn't fun in any Phantasy Star game on PSC. Again, instead of Magic, you've got Techniques. The only difference being these Techs are arranged into different categories - Heal (Ex.: Res - heals one character), Melee (Ex.: Foi - flames attack an enemy), Time (Ex.: Ner - Haste, basically; speeds up the time it takes to attack), and Order (Ex.: Forsa - energy blasts an enemy). Techniques can only be used by Laya's descendants and the cyborgs, and thus not everyone can be Technical. You can distribute power to the various types at a Technique Shop, which can be found in those good ol' Towns.

The same ol' Shops do not return. As a matter of fact, the Hospital and Clone Lab have been wiped clean away from Phantasy Star III. Instead, you've got a Healer whom does the job of a Clone Lab, and the Inn takes up the vacancy left behind by the Hospital. Armor/Equipment/Weapon Shops exist for you to buy and sell equipment in traditional RPG fashion. Fortuneteller's now exist, and they'll do as their name says for a certain amount of Meseta's (Phantasy Star currency if you've not forgotten).

Landmarks have become a part of Phantasy Star III: GOD, and those are Caverns, Docks, Laya's Palaces, and Airstrips. Each have a small bit of story on them, but I don't want to spoil anything for you. The landmarks aren't the most important things in the game, but you will have to familiarize yourself with them. As the three generations go by, you've gotta remember a lot of things. I suggest writing all the important things down once you see'em in the dialogue boxes.

The problem with Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom is that it's just too similar to the other two Phantasy Star games - a trend that had continued with Phantasy Star II. The thing is, with PSII, it was a leap forward, and not a stumble backwards. Perhaps it was a mistake to leave the futuristic setting; it worked well with the second installment. After it's said and done, Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom will feel like the same ol' game, completed for the third time. It's also the easiest game in the Collection, and you'll finish it sooner than you'd expect.

Phantasy Star Collection - 6/10
Summary
If Phantasy Star Collection had been released in the earlier stages of the GBA's hardware cycle, we'd have a big portable something on our hands. Also, it'd help if the titles had acquired a makeover, like something similar to what Squaresoft did with Final Fantasy Origins. But no, we're all grounded with the original titles. Fine! Let us suffer with the lack of critical ingenuity after the first Phantasy Star, the see-through storylines, the loss of any map system whatsoever, disappointing music, and clanky, cruddy battle system. Thanks, Sega. And thank you, THQ, for not slapping Sega in the groin with an iron glove to make them think twice about releasing something that those not so familiar with (very) old school RPG's wouldn't exactly enjoy.

But, if you played Phantasy Star, Phantasy Star II, and Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom when they were first released over and around a decade ago, you will find a very enjoyable experience within this compilation. Old school gamers will no doubt appreciate these titles, as they were around to see the crowd that Phantasy Star stood above. But as far as this reviewer is concerned, they're just not that special.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/06